


Something More

by rqyh



Series: Commissions [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Brief Use of Philippine Expressions, LGBT characters, M/M, Philippine Setting, but the original one i gave to the commissioner had the real names, fiction based on non-fiction, high school setting, just know that the names are all fictional, long-story short: someone was pining and wanted me to write this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-12-12 23:08:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11747115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rqyh/pseuds/rqyh
Summary: "Hey, Theo, do you have a crush on Jonathan?" isn't a sentence that Theodore thought he would ever hear, but here he was now.





	Something More

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt was "Please write a fic based on me and this guy I have a crush on, no angst thanks, I don't wanna cry on my birthday."  
> That was it. Really.

**“Hey, Theo, do you have** a crush on Jonathan?”

            Theodore promptly spat out his water from where he was drinking it from a plastic bottle, doubling over from where he sat and coughing, the armchair digging into his stomach painfully. Victoria was leaning on her hand and staring at Theo with A Look, both of her eyebrows raised as if to say _Are you done?_

            “Wh-why would you s-say that?” Theodore asked after calming down a bit, though still coughing a little.

            “Well,” Victoria started, and Theodore felt like he was going to end up embarrassed beyond belief (like that didn’t already happen on a daily basis), “considering the fact that A) you keep sending him love eyes every day ever since the start of the school quarter; B) you keep laughing and giggling at literally every single thing he says even when it’s not remotely funny in the first place; and C) you mention him in every single chat you go on on F.B. (and this information I got from all my other friends) I think it’s safe to assume that you do, in fact, have a crush on him, Theo.”

            By this time, Theodore was already covering his burning face in his hands (he started at around the time Victoria mentioned ‘love eyes’) and trying to hide himself from the embarrassment the world was throwing him.

            “If it’s any consolation, everyone probably thinks you’re just very, _very_ close friends with him,” Victoria said, helpfully.

            “Everyone _knows?_ ” Theodore let out in a tiny squeak, peeking through his fingers to see the indignant expression on the short girl’s face.

            “Than is probably the only one who _doesn’t_ know,” Victoria answered.

            Theodore groaned out loud, going back to hide his face in his hands in an attempt to run away from his shame.

            Victoria nudged him with the tip of her black shoe from where she sat in the armchair next to him. Theodore eventually put down his hands when Victoria started to legit kick him in the shins. “Are you going to confess to him?”

            “ _No!_ ” Theodore practically screamed, earning a few surprised and scandalized looks from his classmates, most of which were busy watch BLACKPINK’s brand new music video ‘As If It’s Your Last.’ (Seriously, they only had a minute left from the twenty minutes of recess time; why were they still playing songs on the television when a teacher could come in at any minute?)

            “I mean,” Theodore continued, lowering down his voice so as to make sure no one heard him and leaning in to Victoria’s space, “I’m not even sure if Jonathan is even into guys. What if he’s actually an f-boy? Imagine if I said, ‘Hey, Than. Not to bother you or anything, but I’ve liked you for many months now, and I was wondering if you felt the same.’ And then he goes, ‘No homo.’ ”

            Victoria pursed her lips a little, looking to the side and thinking.

            “Well, at least then, you’d actually _know_ whether or not he likes you,” she said after a while. “I mean, isn’t that better than not knowing anything at all?”

            The two of them simultaneously turned to the boy they were talking about, who was busy showing his cousin how to stack four meat balls on top of each other without any of them falling out of balance. He was laughing with his mouth wide open in an expression of amused glee, eyes turning into crescents as he did so, looking nothing short of happy.          

            Theodore felt something in his chest stutter as he watched Jonathan in all his Jonathan-ness, wondering when he started to develop feelings for him. He wondered why his heart decided to fall for a kind heart, a funny personality, and a strong build. He wondered if he would be okay with knowing how Jonathan felt about him, if it meant no longer having moments like this, when he let himself stare at the boy before him, knowing that he didn’t know about his feelings, knowing that only he knew. He wondered how long this temporary happiness was going to last, and how long it was going to keep him happy, keep him smiling to himself as he felt the butterflies in his stomach fly and fly and fly. He wondered if keeping it as a secret wouldn’t be so bad after all.

            He turned back to Victoria, who was smirking at him with a knowing look.

            He slapped her shoulder, cheeks burning.

 

Theodore plopped down on his bed after a long, _long_ day at school, courtesy of none other than the queen of Embarrassing Theo herself. Ugh, Victoria just _had_ to point out his stupid crush on the boy, didn’t she?

            _I mean_ , Theodore thought, pursing his lips and staring up at the lone light bulb on his ceiling as if it held the answers to the universe, _it’s not like I have_ that _big of a crush on Jonathan._

            Sure, he found himself staring at Jonathan more often and more intensely than he would normal friends (he doesn’t even stare _at_ his friends), and maybe he just liked the way his muscly build was emphasized even more than usual with the t-shirt and shorts he wore to PE that one time. And it wasn’t weird that Theodore found it endearing whenever Jonathan stuttered while speaking in front, trying and failing to find the words to express what message he wanted to convey, but still laughing it off in that confidently shy way he always did. And how Jonathan’s smile always seemed to make the poorly lit classroom brighter with every time he so much as lifted the corner of his mouth, and how his laugh rang in his ears like the most beautiful piece of music he’d ever heard, making him want to laugh with and for him. And how nice it would probably be to have those arms wrap around his thin frame, around his waist, as he hugs him from behind, whispering and telling how much he loved him, and

            Theodore slammed his face down on the mattress. _Dang it, Victoria. Dang it all._

He quickly sat up and retrieved his phone from the far corner of his bed, deciding it best to check on his social media instead of mentally writing self-insert fanfiction involving a boy who might not even be gay (or bi, or pan, or basically someone who’s into dudes).

            Theodore unlocked his phone and clicked on the pink circle with a red number **99** attached to it. The group chat was, as usual, being bombarded with a flurry of messages coming up from the lower left side, this time the reason being Isaac and Ayah yelling at each other (most likely because of inappropriateness) as Aaron and Eiel talk about a video Eiel probably already shared to a different group chat in between all the yelling.

**better than all of u**

THIS GC HAS RULES ISAAC STOP BREAKING THEM

**stereo bisaac™**

I CAN DO WHAT I WANT

**⭐** **aaron** **⭐**

ok but why is there a turtle

**better than all of u**

WE HAVE A SYSTEM

**stereo bisaac™**

FUCK THE SYSTEM

**budget-cut jamisola**

the turtle is symbolism for death

**⭐** **aaron** **⭐**

???

**better than all of u**

LANGUAGE

**afear disafear one half one fourth**

hey guys

**stereo bisaac™**

YOU’RE NOT MY MOM

oh hey Theo

**better than all of u**

heyyy Theo

**budget-cut jamisola**

OH OH OH THEO LOOK AT THIS VIDEO

**⭐** **aaron** **⭐**

Theo do not look at the video

**afear disafear one half one fourth**

can i ask a question

**better than all of u**

shoot

**afear disafear one half one fourth**

is it obvs that i like Than

**better than all of u**

yus

**stereo bisaac™**

ahahah he finally admits it

 

**budget-cut jamisola**

oo ngay

**⭐** **aaron** **⭐**

:0

**afear disafear one half one fourth**

oh HAHAHA

**⭐** **aaron** **⭐**

wait am i the only one who didn’t notice

**better than all of u**

bby its fine

why the sudden question Theo

**afear disafear one half one fourth**

idk someone mentioned it to me

**stereo bisaac™**

well go bang him already before I do

**budget-cut jamisola**

di ba may boypren ka

**stereo bisaac™**

oh right

**⭐** **aaron** **⭐**

are u gonna confess

**afear disafear one half one fourth**

not sure

**better than all of u**

thats fine u should do it if u want to

 **⭐** **aaron** **⭐**

^

**budget-cut jamisola**

i had a crush on Than once

**stereo bisaac™**

who didn’t

**better than all of u**

me

**⭐** **aaron** **⭐**

same

**stereo bisaac™**

what how the fuck not

 

**better than all of u**

LANGUAGE

           

            Theodore was on his way to send another text message when his phone vibrated suddenly, and a new bubble popped up next to the one meant for the group chat, a red number **1** attached to it.

            _Jonathan Vasquez is requesting to have a chat with you._

            Theodore did a total of three things: 1) scream so loudly that the birds outside his window flew up in a frenzy with one of them hitting the glass panes, 2) let go of his phone by reflex and promptly sending it down its way to the abyss that was the floor, and 3) proceed to juggle with his phone, trying not to let it drop and break its precious screen.

            After five minutes of this, Theodore ended up staring at his phone in a mix of disbelief and shock. There, at the right upper corner of his phone, was a picture of the boy he had been crushing on for months and months now.

            _Holy duck Jonathan just sent me a message_ was the simple, general thought filling Theodore’s mind up in a series of exclamation points, and no, Theodore was _not_ panicking at _all_ , thank you very much.

            Theodore stole a few minutes from time to calm himself down and slowing down his breathing, even going as far as to fix his hair and shirt (to which he berated himself after realizing the futility of it), before pressing on the circle on his phone and accepting the message request.

**Jonathan Vasquez**

hey Theo, theres gonna be a test next week for math, right?

**Theodore Dela Cruz**

YEAH

           

            Theodore proceeded to smack his own forehead repeatedly.

**Jonathan Vasquez**

is it fine if you could tutor me this weekend?

i wasn’t able to attend class last week

               

                The scream that came after did not come from Theodore, if anyone was asking.

            He immediately switched to the group chat.

**afear disafear one half one fourth**

HE ASKED ME TO TUTOR HIM

 **⭐** **aaron** **⭐**

lol good luck with that

**stereo bisaac™**

ask him if he tops or bottoms

**better than all of u**

make sure to ACTUALLY tutor him ok

**budget-cut jamisola**

wow lucky

               

                Theodore closed the group chat and tried another.

**Theodore Dela Cruz**

JONATHAN ASKED ME TO TUTOR HIM

**Crystal Yana**

kyooot

 

            Theodore closed the chat.

**Theodore Dela Cruz**

Jonathan asked me to tutor him

**Victoria Flores**

tell him you’ll only do it if he’ll go out with you

 

            _I hate my friends._

**Jonathan Vasquez**

Theo?

**Theodore Dela Cruz**

yeah HAHAHA sorry I was busy

sure ill tutor you

**Jonathan Vasquez**

thanks. so this saturday - sunday?

**Theodore Dela Cruz**

sure yeah

where to? starbucks? goodtaste?

**Jonathan Vasquez**

i was thinking maybe your house or mine

that cool with you?

**Theodore Dela Cruz**

yeah that’s fine totally fine im 100% down yep HAHAHA

uh my house is fine. not on sunday tho

**Jonathan Vasquez**

alright. Ill visit you tomorrow then pick you up on sunday

           

            Theodore had to come up with an excuse to his mom about the scream that came after  seeing ‘I’ll pick you up.’

 

If Theodore was bouncing up and down in the middle of the hallway, waiting for a certain Jonathan Vasquez (also known as “the cause of Theodore’s confusion, nervousness, and the butterflies currently swarming in his stomach, acting more like wasps than any other insect”), then at least the pack of four idiots (see: the members of the group chat “a mess tbh”) wasn’t present to see him and possibly eventually make fun of him for it.

            Theodore had lost count on the amount of times he had checked on the mirror attached to the wall to see if what he was wearing was right. Obviously, he had to make sure he looked presentable, but not _so_ presentable that it looked like he was on his way out of the house and into a fancy party with little teacups and pasta from Goodtaste or something, whatever. Not to mention that he also had to make sure that he didn’t look like he was the literal visual embodiment of the phrase “I woke up like this.” Checking himself out in the mirror was normal teenager behavior, especially considering that he was having a friend (stranger? acquaintance? unrequited love? future person who might possibly return the feelings he had been harboring for forever?) over to his house. So, no, Theodore was _not_ overthinking things and he definitely was _not_ panicking and he obviously _wasn’t_ making a pathetic attempt at convincing himself that he wasn’t, in fact, insane.

            “Stop bouncing so much,” came the voice from his phone, which Theodore was holding in his free hand, the other one shaking so much from the scariness of it all.

            “You can’t even _see_ me,” Theodore protested, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead and glancing over at the door only just a hundred times per second.

            “I knew you were bi before _you_ knew you were bi,” Ate Nina shot back, and Theodore rolled his eyes in response. “You just rolled your eyes, didn’t you?”

            Theodore groaned out loud. His niece (yeah, same, Theodore found it a bit odd, too) sighed out loud.

            “Look, don’t fret over it that much, alright?” Her soothing voice calmed Theodore’s nerves a tad bit. “Remember—why is this Jonathan guy coming over again?”

            “Because he asked me to tutor him for Math because he was absent for a few days of school, and also because there’s a test this Monday,” Theodore recited, as if reading it from a script in his ever-shaking hand.           

            “Then there’s not much for you to worry about,” Ate assured him. “It’s only for school, right? You’re not going to the movies, or having a cup of coffee over at a café, or having a picnic at Burnham—you’re only going to tutor him for school. No feelings involved.

            “Just take a few deep breaths and focus on helping him for school, alright? You’ll be fine.”

            Theodore let the advice sink in, closing his eyes for a short moment to help with the tremor in his fingers. After a while, he felt his heartbeat slow down and a smile spread across his face.

            “Thank you, Ate,” he said, meaning it, sending her a smile he knew she couldn’t see but knew was there anyway. “ _Finally_ , someone who can actually give me good advice.”

            Theodore could practically see her raise her eyebrow in a questioning expression.

            “… You _have_ friends, don’t you?” she asked.

            “I do. Unfortunately, they’re all idiots.”

            “Ah. Birds of the same feather _do_ flock together, don’t they?”

            “ _Ate—_ ”

            Suddenly a loud _knock knock knock_ was heard on the front door, making Theodore jump and almost drop his precious, precious phone on the floor once again.

            “That’s my cue to hang up, I guess,” Ate prompted. “Remember what I said, alright? Just focus on helping him for school and pretend like your heart isn’t trying to run a marathon.”

            “Okay. Thanks aga—” But his niece (again, _weird_ ) had already cut off the conversation, and Theodore was left with a _Call ended_ flashing at him on his phone screen.

            Again, the knocking came back, and Theodore took one deep breath before opening the door.

            When he did, he swore that he saw heaven itself, heard angels sing songs of worship and praise, felt his heart fall out of his chest and onto the floor in a big messy heap that so happened to spell _I am so bi._

            “Hey, Theo,” Jonathan greeted with a smile and a wave of the hand, a backpack hanging over his left shoulder and looking like it was about to fall off any minute (the visual representation of what Theodore was feeling right about now).

            _You’re gonna be fine. Just focus on helping him for school. You’re gonna be fine._

            Theodore smiled back.

            “Hey, Than. Come on—I’ll show you my room; we can go study there.”

 

Jonathan surprisingly caught on fast, considering the fact that he was gone for almost half of last week and that no one bothered to tell him there was even a test in the first place (why was every single student so freaking useless?).

            When Theodore first started introducing the concepts and terms and such, Jonathan had trouble understanding and had to ask Theodore to repeat what he just said a few more times just to get it. However, after a few example problems and a _heck_ ton of trial and error, Jonathan was giving out solutions as quickly as he ran on the way to the classroom whenever he got late.     

            “Is the answer… forty-two-point-sixty-seven?” Jonathan asked, looking up from his solution paper.

            “Yeah,” Theodore said, laughing a little, mostly because he found it funny that Jonathan always seemed hesitant when answering example problems, even though he had been giving out the correct answers starting from around Problem No. 4.

            Jonathan was surprisingly enthusiastic in this, which was saying something since Theodore caught him sleeping during one of Mr. Jamisola’s “lectures” before. (At the time, Theodore was one part gushing from how adorable he looked like with his cheek pushed up, and another part worried because Mr. Jamisola’s tests were as difficult as his lectures were silly.)

            Theodore was pretty much sure that the smile on Jonathan’s face didn’t disappear since the moment he walked in to his house and followed Theodore to his room (his messy, messy excuse of a room which was only clean right now because he had cleared out all waste materials and garbage in the last minute). Jonathan was so immersed in studying that Theodore forgot all about his initial nervousness and fear of what could’ve happened during the time Jonathan came over.

            Theodore had found himself smiling stupid at the boy before him. At the boy who had his eyebrows scrunched up together in the most adorable way possible. At the boy who was biting his bottom lip unconsciously. At the boy who was so focused on the work in front of him that he gave Theodore the freedom to let his feelings grow, ever so slowly.

             Because what Theodore felt for Jonathan wasn’t love yet, that much he knew, that much he was sure about. Because whenever he looked at Jonathan, he found his heart wanting to reach out and tell him everything he liked about it. Because whenever Jonathan looked his way, Theodore wanted to look back just a tad bit longer. Because Jonathan made Theodore giggle more than he normally did. Because Jonathan made Theodore slap his shoulder whenever he made a joke. Because Jonathan made Theodore confused, nervous, and shy.

            Because right now, Theodore knew that his feelings for Jonathan were small, small, small, but Jonathan made him want them to grow into something more, more, more.

            “Theo, you’re staring.”

            Theodore snapped out of his gaze, realizing that he had been staring at Jonathan for what must have been the most awkward five minutes in his life.

            “Ah, sorrysorrysorry!” Theodore said, almost dropping the notebook he was holding on the bed they were seated on. “Got distracted, I guess.”

            Jonathan laughed heartily, and Theodore felt his chest constrict.

            “We should take a break, then,” he prompted. “Geniuses get tired, too.”

            “You haven’t been tired since the start of this session, though.”

            “I was referring to you.”

            Theodore blushed. ( _Actually_ blushed, dear _Lord_.)

            “Uh… hahaha!” Theodore nervously laughed, scratching his neck. “Haha, don’t say that. You’re gonna make me think you’re flirting with me, haha.” _What the duck, Theo? What the duck._

But Jonathan was staring at Theodore with an unreadable expression on his face, and suddenly Theodore was hyper-aware of how close they were.

            “… Would you _want_ me to flirt with you?” Jonathan asked, still looking at Theodore like he was the most interesting thing in the world.

            “Uh…” _What the duck what the duck what the duck_

            “You don’t have a girlfriend, right?”

            “Uh… not that I know of, no…”

            Jonathan smiled.

            “Good.”

            Theodore furrowed his eyebrows, confused.

            “Wait, what? Why would that be good?” he asked.    

            “Because then I can do this.”

            Jonathan leaned in and pressed his lips onto Theodore’s, a hand cupping his cheek.

            _Oh. Oh, okay._

            Theodore was just about to close his eyes when Jonathan pulled away, a smile ever-present on his ever-handsome face.

            “Maybe we could go out for a movie tomorrow when I pick you up?” Jonathan suggested.

            Theodore kept staring at him, mouth parted slightly. Jonathan raised an eyebrow.

            “Theo?”

            “… Holy fuck,” Theodore whispered.

            Ten hours later, Ayah would berate him for using inappropriate language, but Theodore was going to watch Wonder Woman with Jonathan the following day so in all honesty, he could afford being scolded for the next five minutes or so.

            (Also, Theodore _may_ have already watched the movie for the second time, but he figured he’d say ‘yes’ to anything, if it meant seeing that wonderful smile play before him over and over again.)

           

           

 

 


End file.
